


Who Are We?

by HMSquared



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Accidents, Aging, Alzheimer's Disease, Death from Old Age, F/M, Gender-Neutral Venom Symbiote (Marvel), Memory Loss, Mentions of Cancer, My thanaphobic brain loved writing this, Post-Venom (Movie 2018), Present Tense, Sad Ending, Time Skips, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:08:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24205690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HMSquared/pseuds/HMSquared
Summary: It starts off simple: Eddie misses a dollar at the supermarket. But then things get worse.
Relationships: Dan Lewis/Anne Weying
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24





	Who Are We?

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Still Hank](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23053894) by [Johnlocked221b](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Johnlocked221b/pseuds/Johnlocked221b). 



Like all great tragedies, it starts off simple. And like all great tragedies, the result becomes apparent at the worst possible time.

Eddie goes to the supermarket on a regular Thursday, Venom attached to his spine. It’s been a long time since their first adventure together; he’s now 55 and gray.

The shelves are still packed with food. Eddie grabs a box of tater tots (for Venom, of course), then shuffles up to the counter with his groceries. There’s a young woman behind the counter, a brunette with a lip piercing and tattoos. She smiles warmly at him and slowly rings everything up.

_ She’s cute. _

“Not my type,” Eddie whispers under his breath. The cashier doesn’t seem to hear him. She gives him the total and he shuffles around in his wallet for a few dollar bills.

“Not enough coffee?” she chuckles. Eddie looks up, confused. “You’re a dollar short.”

“Sorry, I could’ve sworn… Eh, it doesn’t matter.” He gives her the extra dollar and looks at the register again. The numbers seem different.

Venom’s oddly quiet on the way home. Eddie basks in it and remains silent.

“Where is it?” Pushing aside a stack of papers, Eddie looks around. “Where the hell is it?”

_ Having issues, Eddie? _

“My phone.” Eddie shakes his head and stands up, going to the kitchen. “Have you seen my phone?”

Venom remains silent as its host ponders. He looks over his shoulder back at the coffee table and scattered papers. Something isn’t right.

_ Have you checked the fridge? _

“What?” Eddie opens the fridge...and sure enough, there’s his phone. It turns on and he shakes his head. “What did you do?”

_ Not me. You. _

Now he remembers. Eddie got up in the middle of the night for a glass of the water. He was looking at the news and must have been half asleep.

The next week is an interesting one. Several times, Eddie finds himself standing in a room without any indication of how he got there. Venom gets quieter but doesn’t dip out entirely.

A couple of times, they get lost on the way to work. Or rather, Eddie gets lost. Venom tugs him back to Earth every time, snarking and shaking its head. But there’s a worry in its tone, a fear.

_ Anything good today?  _ Venom asks as Eddie sets down the mail. There are a few bills, a marketing letter...and buried at the bottom of the pile is a cream envelop with the words “Eddie and V” on it.

“What’s this?” Eddie opens the envelope and pulls out a folded piece of paper. He unfolds it, Venom reading over his shoulder.

_ You have been cordially invited to the wedding of Anne Weying and Dr. Dan Lewis. _

“Anne and Dan are getting married?” he asks, ignoring the rest of the invitation. Venom nods, surprised.

_ They got engaged last month, idiot. You helped Dan propose. _

“Oh…” Eddie trails off, trying not to panic. How could he forget something like that? He shakes his head. “I’m calling him.”

Dan looks surprised when Eddie walks in unannounced, smiling an actual smile. Stepping over and pulling off a glove, he smiles.

“Eddie, good to see you.” They shake hands, then he cocks his head to the side. “What can I do for you?”

“I’m having memory issues…” Dan’s smile instantly falls.

They do all sorts of things: a physical exam, a CAT scan, and a memory test. Eddie stumbles his way through each one, Venom watching with concern. Dan’s expression becomes more and more unreadable, and after the CAT scan results come back, he frowns.

Eddie’s heart drops when he hears the diagnosis: Alzheimer’s. Curling into a ball on the examination table, he begins to shake.

“How much time do I have left?” Dan frowns.

“With your current... _ situation _ , I don’t know.”

_ If I weren’t here, how long? _

“Well, thankfully we’re in the early stages. I’d say…” Dan consults the printout again and thinks. “Ten years.” Eddie grows tighter in his little ball, traces of the symbiote poking through.

Anne and Dan get married three months later at a lakeside hotel. Eddie puts on his best suit, combs his hair, and smiles for the first time since the diagnosis.

His memory hasn’t gotten much worse, but it hasn’t gotten better. He and Venom do crossword puzzles together, which the symbiote surprisingly tolerates. Eddie doesn’t think about how much time he has left. He doesn’t think about his imminent death.

Anne looks beautiful in her wedding dress. Her hair’s pinned up and her smile lights up the room. Eddie flashes her a reassuring grin as she walks down the aisle. Dan looks happier than he’s ever been in his life.

The three of them dance together during the reception. Eddie spins around, Venom peeking out from under his sleeves. Anne gives him a hug and Dan says he looks good. Everyone’s happy.

Then things get worse. Eddie starts losing more and more time, starts forgetting the simplest of things. Venom tones down its snarkage and simply tries to help, legitimately worried for its host.

Every once in a while, Eddie misses a step. He catches himself every time, shakes off the cobwebs and keeps going.

Venom’s out of Eddie’s body, sitting on the sofa with a magazine, when it hears the crash. Shooting up, it runs down the hall and stops.

Eddie’s lying on the floor, dazed. He stares up at the ceiling; everything’s blurry.

_ Eddie? Eddie! Quit lying down on the job. _

Eddie blinks and finds Venom staring at him. Fear shooting through him, he screams.

The police are called and Eddie’s whisked off to the hospital. Venom follows, marveled by how long it took for its host to forget. After six years, he finally forgot.

Dan does another scan and gets another printout. His eyes widen at the results; he tells Eddie the Alzheimer’s has sped up and things have gotten worse. There’s cancer in his liver, cancer that is spreading. His window of survival has shrunk.

Venom possesses Eddie again to see how he reacts. He instantly starts twitching and gritting his teeth. That’s the last time they share a body.

On Dan’s recommendation, Eddie is placed in a nursing home. He’s good at first, snarking with the nurses and watching TV. But his body continues to rot, his cells slowly dying. Venom never leaves his side, determined to not let him forget again.

Eventually, his legs stop working. Eddie is confined to his bed, where he does more crossword puzzles and watches more TV. He starts forgetting what he’s watched and more of the puzzle books go undone.

After two years of living like this, he goes into hospice. Anne comes to say goodbye, shaking like a leaf. She squeezes Eddie’s hand and kisses his forehead; he smiles, oblivious to their past.

Dan pats him on the shoulder, looking sad. He leaves, Venom now the only other present being.

“How are you feeling?”

_ You’re the one dying. You tell me. _

Eddie doesn’t know how to answer. Shifting in place, he holds out his hand.

“Please don’t leave me here.” Venom leans forward in its seat and takes his hand.

_ I will miss you, Eddie Brock. _

“Me too, buddy.” Eddie holds Venom’s hand until his eyes go out of focus and his head tips to the side. Then, as the doctors come in to record the time of death, the symbiote slips away through the darkness.


End file.
